This timely and important book explores how fee-based services have developed in various types of sci-tech libraries. The authoritative contributors focus on the current changing financial aspects of the sci-tech library operation and clarify for the reader how these changes have brought about conditions in which traditional methods of funding are no longer adequate. What new options are open and how they are best being applied in today’s sci-tech libraries is fully and clearly explained and illustrated. Topics explored include cost allocation and cost recovery, fees for computer searching, and the relationship between sci-tech libraries and serials agents.

An eye-opening look at alternative careers for those with a sci-tech background--whether they be librarians or scientists or engineers, this exciting volume fills a gap in the professional literature. The contributors--all of whom have pursued alternative careers--provide detailed accounts of their jobs, including skills and education needed, working environment, job rewards and challenges, and future prospects. Although most of these positions fall outside traditional career fields--information broker, translator, acquisitions editor, information resources manager, research scientist, online database manager, and abstractor and indexer--they offer options for professionals seeking challenging new careers.

Required reading for any librarian who has been asked to identify standards and specifications, this unique new book highlights the importance of standards in many sci-tech libraries. Collections of standards in sci-tech libraries encompass a great variety--from the most narrow subject fields, to those covering many, and from collections of American standards only, to those with an international array. Role of Standards in Sci-Tech Libraries addresses the need for standards in libraries and provides crucial guidelines for developing standards collections. The first chapter describes the operation and collections of the ideal service that could be established to serve those needing stadards and to promote the use and collection of standards. A helpful list of foreign and domestic organizations that issue standards is included. Successive chapters explore the role of standards in different types of libraries--a public library’s science and technology department, a corporate library, an academic library, and the library of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The final chapter addresses the role of Information Handling Services (IHS), a commercial source of all types of standards, discusses the range of standards services, and explains how information is acquired.

Here is a unique volume on the relationship between sci-tech materials and trade literature, commonly called manufacturers’catalogs. Because very little has been published about the value and nature of trade literature in regard to sci-tech libraries, this volume will be important in informing librarians about a little-known segment of the larger picture of sci-tech information sources, thus adding to the value of their services to their clients. The Role of Trade Literature in Sci-Tech Libraries addresses the problems of handling sci-tech trade literature in a corporate technical library, a large public library, and a government library devoted to American history. Experts offer practical advice on selecting and organizing trade literature and on managing the growth and extent of a collection of trade literature. They discuss modern literature and older publications, which often have great historical value. Libraries that collect both old and new materials are identified, as are publishers of trade literature. The book also focuses on how a publisher of classic trade literature views its role. Of interest to any professional in the information science field, this practical volume will be particularly valuable to managers of corporate sci-tech libraries, managers of library collections in Americana, and beginning librarians who are learning about trade literature.

In response to the general lack of information about zoo libraries, Editor Ellis Mount has compiled a fascinating collection of descriptions of the libraries serving six American zoos. The accounts of zoo libraries in this unique book include the National Zoological Park in Washington, DC, the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, and the Minnesota Zoological Garden Library in St. Paul. The contributors detail the types of collections and services offered at zoo libraries. In addition, a survey made of 78 American zoo libraries is included, including information about their staffs, facilities, collections, and services, as well as data on 32 archive collections.

This fascinating volume offers thorough descriptions of sci-tech library networks in which their members have a common sponsorship or ownership. Library networks exist in such great quantity and diversity now, that it is not difficult to identify many types of them. Corporate library networks--AT&T, Xerox, and General Electric--and federal government networks--NASA and FEDLINE--are the focus here, as the authors present the history, development, and activities of these networks. A library network for health sciences libraries that use OCLC is also scrutinized.

Most librarians working with sci-tech collections are fully aware of the importance of conference papers and proceedings, which has long played a major role in keeping professionals informed of the latest developments in their field. In this essential new book, responsible executives from several publishers of conference literature have joined with a number of sci-tech librarians to discuss the nature and value of conference literature in sci-tech libraries. A commercial publisher discusses the difficulties in editing a set of conference papers in a book, while producers of indexing/abstracting tools describe their selection methods, retrieval services, and general outlook on conference materials. In addition, sci-tech librarians address the problems of accessing, citing, and locating conference literature and explore the many aspects of the cataloging of conference publications.

This special volume celebrates the development of sci-tech libraries in honor of the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the first library school in the United States. The expert contributors provide a survey of the development of sci-tech libraries as well as some thoughts about their future. This comprehensive volume covers several types of sci-tech libraries, information retrieval, and library education. Library professionals will be fascinated bt the journey of progress detailed in these well-written chapters.